Help my Unbelief!

 A brief devotion / teaching that Alan recently shared:

 

Mark 9: 20-24. CSB. (The Christian Standard Bible translation)

So they brought the boy to him. When the spirit saw him, it immediately threw the boy into convulsions. He fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth.

“How long has this been happening to him?” Jesus asked his father. “From childhood,” he said.

“And many times it has thrown him into the fire or water to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.”

Jesus said to him, “‘If you can’? Everything is possible for the one who believes.”

Immediately the father of the boy cried out, “I do believe; help my unbelief !”

 

I included the early verses of that passage for context, but for me the key verse is the capper, the punch line: “Lord I believe. Help my unbelief.”

I love how human that statement is, this co-mingling of belief and unbelief.

And this is simultaneous. If you say those sentences, “I believe. Help my unbelief.” – there is less than a second between those sentences. These can exist in the same person, at the same time, this faith and doubt, this belief and unbelief.

I think that in the modern American church, we flinch at the notion of unbelief, of doubt, those are harsh-sounding words. Perhaps you’ve been in situations where expressions of doubt or uncertainty over a particular bit of theology was greeted with … criticism, with condemnation. Or perhaps you’ve been told than any little bit of doubt is sin.

But no, that is not the case. “Lord I believe. Help my unbelief.”

So I prefer to think in terms of certainty and uncertainty. Maybe uncertainty, that is a less troublesome-sounding word than doubt or unbelief.

But whatever we call it, it goes hand-in-hand with belief. Doubt and faith, we can think of them as different sides of the same coin – but remember, it is the same coin!

A lot of churches recite the Apostles Creed, as part of their service. Our church has a point where we recite something together, often a Bible passage, and every month or so it’s the Apostles Creed. Now there’s one clause I’m not sure about, but most of the time I’m at a solid 98% on the Creed. But I’ll be honest, there are times when I scan through the Creed and …. I’m more like believing 75% of that stuff.

But those questions, whatever momentary uncertainties I may have, they aren’t because I don’t believe. It’s actually because I want to take my faith seriously, I want to know what I believe. That’s why I study, why I read theology, to know as best I can what I believe. And I do that with a willingness to learn – and if I’m gonna learn, I need to be willing to change my mind a little bit, there need to be some places where I set my certainty aside. So I can learn.

I would also mention ideas of essentials versus non-essentials in terms of theologies. Essentials are the foundational things, and to me that’s a pretty small list, mostly revolving around the person and work on Jesus … and the types of things in the Apostles Creed. Yes, there are some things we stand firmly on, but there are a lot of areas, lots of doctrines, where some questions, some uncertainty, some willingness to learn … not just not a bad thing, might actually be a good thing.

“Lord I believe. Help my unbelief.”

So in conclusion, which is what every preacher says when they have 10 more minutes to go and 4 more key points to make … but in conclusion, I intend this to be encouraging. Give yourself grace – give others grace, of course, but give yourself grace … for your moments of … call it whatever we want … our moments of uncertainty, of doubt, of unbelief … remember that they are OK. It’s not about being fully one or the other, believing or unbelieving; as humans, we are a strange melange of both.

Doubts are OK. Questions are OK. God can handle your questions, and he can handle your doubts.

Doubts, questions, even times of unbelief … they don’t mean that you don’t believe. 

Podcast #040 - The Book of Ruth

"The Book of Ruth: An Original Graphic Novel"

Alan and Em discuss the original graphic novel The Book of Ruth, by Meredith Finch & Colin Dyer. The book retells the Old Testament story in the context of the Dust Bowl era. The discussion includes a deep dive into atonement theology, but somehow they manage to reference Babylon 5, Leverage ... and more!

Click on the player below to listen to the episode:




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Link: The Book of Ruth Kickstarter
Link: Meredith Finch on Twitter
Link: The Harry Whodunit Collection
Link: Tomato Bird's Tumblr


We would love to hear from you about this topic, the podcast episode, or the podcast in general. Send e-mail feedback to dorknesstolight@gmail.com 

You can follow the network on twitter @DorknessToLight or Alan @ProfessorAlan

Podcast #035 - Blue Christmas 2019

"Blue Christmas"

Alan and Em are not discussing the Elvis song in this episode. Instead, they are talking about the growing trend of "Blue Christmas" services, in which churches make space for people who aren't quite ready to celebrate the season, but are instead dealing with loss, grief, discouragement, and the general stresses of modern life.

Merry Christmas, seasons greetings, happy holidays, and we wish all ot listeners a blessed 2020.

Click on the player below to listen to the episode:

You may also subscribe to the podcast through Apple Podcasts or the RSS Feed.

Link to Opening Song: "Veni Veni Emmanuel" by Heather Dale

We would love to hear from you about this topic, the podcast episode, or the podcast in general. Send e-mail feedback to dorknesstolight@gmail.com 

You can follow the network on twitter @DorknessToLight or Alan @ProfessorAlan

Church Practice: Hellblazer

John Constantine is not a role model, but he does know enough to know a bit of the Truth. And here, with an assist from Helena Bertinelli (The Huntress), he uses his knowledge to perform a much-needed exorcism.

Comic Book Theology: Omega

I do not remember exactly what comic book contained this panel, but I thought it was interesting.

The second definition that the woman gives for "Omega" is an accurate quotation from three different spots in the book of Revelation --  1:8, 21:6, & 22:13. And whether those verses refer to the Father or to Jesus, the woman's identification of the speaker of those words -- as God -- is accurate.

Dead Theologians Society: St John Chrysostom

An early church father who was later declared a Doctor of the Church, John was born in 349. Ordained a deacon in 381, he became known as a compelling and insightful public speaker, earning the nickname "Golden Mouth" (Chrystotom). He became the Archbishop of Constantinople in 397, and died a decade later.

Many of his teachings and sermons survive, and many of these writing are worth revisiting. This is a quote from him, about how to best deal with sinner.

"For Christians above all men are forbidden to correct the stumblings of sinners by force...it is necessary to make a man better not by force but by persuasion. We neither have authority granted us by law to restrain sinners, nor, if it were, should we know how to use it, since God gives the crown to those who are kept from evil, not by force, but by choice."

Comic Book Theology: Hellblazer

A recent issue of the DC Comics title The Hellblazer contained this panel, which contained an interesting take on afterlife theology. Or at least John Constantine's understanding of theology. 

o

The statement "the great faiths will tell you the dirty flesh is just a vessel ... " is an inaccurate (although common) description of what orthodox historical Christianity teaches. As a matter of fact, this dualistic approach ("spirit is good, flesh is bad") is much more closer to Gnosticism, as heresy that was dealt with in the very early days of church, and dismissed as not having a plae in Christianity. 

Despite the anti-gnostic statements that fill the book of 1 John, there are places in the modern church where the heresy of gnosticism rears its ugly head.

All of that is to say this: Don't look to comic books for your theology. And most of all, don't look to John Constantine for your theology.

Graphic Novel Review

The Illustrated Gospel - Searching for Truth, by Tim Chaffey, with art by  Colin Dyer.

The premise is of the comic is simple: A group of college students discuss the content of their religious studies class. The students come from different religious backgrounds, and the discussions are adequately realistic.

The book does break away from this narrative on occasion for discussions of inerrancy and prophetic fulfillment, but these serve as brief and informative breaks.

One of the characters faces a serious trauma, which brings them to a point of crisis. This is a standard of Evangelical storytelling, and this book adds nothing new to this trope. But it does a reasonably good job at taking that typical story point and doing something interesting with it.

Like many similar stories in the genre, the primary point of this is not to tell a compelling dramatic story. The point is to present the Gospel message, and it does that well. The story is fine, albeit predictable.

Despite being published by Answers in Genesis (our copy was purchased at the Creation Museum, fyi), the book is surprisingly free of Young Earth or overly fundamentalist concepts. The evangelical "altar call" in the story is blunt and clear, but the book does avoid some of the thornier theological issues. Which is a good thing.

The book can be purchased here, through Amazon.

What is Arminianism?

We have mentioned that we identify with the theological system of Arminianism, and have recommended the Remonstrance podcast as a place that explores that theological system in depth.

On episode 5 of the podcast, they discussed in depth the question "What does it mean to be an Arminian?" It is a good discussion of what the term means, and more importantly, what it does not mean.

Christianity, the Church and Abuse

Rachael Denhollander was one of more than 150 girls and women to be abused by Dr. Larry Nasser, when he was employed by USA Gymnastics. In her statement in court, at Dr. Nasser's sentencing hearing, Denhollander spoke of her Christian faith.

In a recent interview with Christianity Today, Denhollander discusses how the assault effected her views of God. She also speaks about how her church failed her after her abuse, and how poorly prepared many evangelical churches are to deal with victims of sexual abuse.

My Larry Nassar Testimony Went Viral. But There’s More to the Gospel Than Forgiveness.

Podcast Suggestion: Remonstrance

On our podcast episodes, we have made it clear that our theology is informed by the Arminian viewpoint of systematic theology. In a world awash in Reformed/Cavinist theology, it's always refreshing to find a blog or podcast that presents a systematic theology from that worldview.

One such podcast, The Remonstrance Podcast, does an excellent job digging deeply into the distinctives of Wesleyan-Arminian Theology. They put out an average of two episodes per month, and they tend to run in the 35- to 50- minute range. This makes for good digestible podcasts.

The hosts do their best to be positive, to be pro-Arminian, but that does by necessity require that they occasionally critique Calvinism. But even then, the show is positive and thoughtful.  Anyone interested in an in-depth exploration of Arminianism should check out this podcast.

From Ashes, To Ashes

Marked by Ashes by Walter Brueggemann

Ruler of the Night, Guarantor of the day . . .

This day — a gift from you.
This day — like none other you have ever given, or we have ever received.
This Wednesday dazzles us with gift and newness and possibility.
This Wednesday burdens us with the tasks of the day, for we are already halfway home
halfway back to committees and memos,
halfway back to calls and appointments,
halfway on to next Sunday,
halfway back, half frazzled, half expectant,
half turned toward you, half rather not.

This Wednesday is a long way from Ash Wednesday,
but all our Wednesdays are marked by ashes —
we begin this day with that taste of ash in our mouth:
of failed hope and broken promises,
of forgotten children and frightened women,
we ourselves are ashes to ashes, dust to dust;
we can taste our mortality as we roll the ash around on our tongues.

We are able to ponder our ashness with
some confidence, only because our every Wednesday of ashes
anticipates your Easter victory over that dry, flaky taste of death.

On this Wednesday, we submit our ashen way to you —
you Easter parade of newness.
Before the sun sets, take our Wednesday and Easter us,
Easter us to joy and energy and courage and freedom;
Easter us that we may be fearless for your truth.
Come here and Easter our Wednesday with
mercy and justice and peace and generosity.

We pray as we wait for the Risen One who comes soon.

Jolly Ol' St. Nick!

In honor of the feast day of that great heretic-puncher and orthodoxy-upholder, here is a classic meme about the man.

 

And just in case you wondered that it couldn't hurt that much to be punched by a theologian, what if that theologian had clear Klingon ancestry?

For more information about the saint behind the legend, check out the St. Nicholas Center.

Babylon Bee: Faux Calvinist!

Never trust a Calvinist without a beard. Or with a beard, but that's just our view. Not everything the Babylon Bee puts out is funny, but when they nail it, they nail it.

Beardless ‘Calvinist’ Outed As Arminian Spy

Click through for the full article.

Happy Reformation Day (x500)!

Traditionally, October 31 is thought to be the date in 1517 that Martin Luther nailed the 95 theses to the door of All Saints' Church in Wittenberg, Germany. The church still stands, and the door is still there, although it is not easily accessed. When we visited Wittenberg a few months back as part of the "Luther 500" celebration, we were housed very near the church, now called Castle Church. And I took this picture of church history's most important door.

The door. The actual door.

One Legacy of Luther

The following appeared in the October 27, 2017 edition of the Wall Street Journal, and was reprinted at LuxLibertas.com

How Martin Luther Advanced Freedom

An oil on panel
portrait of Martin
Luther, circa 1526.

The Reformation brought a radical egalitarianism to Christendom.

 By Joseph Loconte

Martin Luther was an unlikely revolutionary for human freedom. When the Augustinian monk hammered his “Ninety-Five Theses” to the Wittenberg Castle Church on Oct. 31, 1517—and unleashed the Protestant Reformation—he was still committed to the spiritual authority of the Catholic Church and retained many of the prejudices of European Christianity.

Yet Luther’s personal experience of God’s love and mercy—“I felt myself to be reborn”—supported a democratic approach to religious belief. In his theological works, Luther introduced a radical egalitarianism that helped lay the foundation for modern democracy and human rights.

Born into a German peasant family in 1483, Luther came to despise every form of spiritual elitism. He sought to replace rigid church hierarchies with “the priesthood of all believers,” the proposition that there are no qualitative differences between clergy and laity. “Just because we are all priests of equal standing,” he wrote in “An Open Letter to the Christian Nobility” (1520), “no one must push himself forward and, without the consent and choice of the rest, presume to do that which we all have equal authority.”

It was a message at odds with the vast superstructure of 16th-century Christendom. Only the monastic orders, with their vows of celibacy and poverty, could produce the spiritual athletes of the church, the thinking went. But to Luther the monasteries were hotbeds of avarice and pride. He wanted them abolished, writing in “The Babylonian Captivity of the Church” (1520) that “pretentious lives, lived under vows are more hostile to faith than anything else can be.”

Luther applied the same logic to the doctrine of Christian vocation. Resisting the stark divisions between “secular” and “religious” occupations, he dignified all legitimate work. “A shoemaker, a smith, a farmer, each has his manual occupation and work; and, yet, at the same time, all are eligible to act as priests and bishops,” he wrote.

An oil on panel portrait of Martin Luther, circa 1526. 

Luther took an ax to the legal culture that shielded priests and bishops from criminal prosecution simply because they held church offices. “It is intolerable that in canon law, the freedom, person, and goods of the clergy should be given this exemption, as if the laymen were not exactly as spiritual, and as good Christians, as they, or did not equally belong to the church.” Here was a religious basis for the principle of equal justice under the law, a core tenet of liberal democracy.

Perhaps Luther’s most subversive act was his translation of the New Testament into German, a feat scholars estimate he accomplished in three months. The papacy had controlled the interpretation of Scripture, available almost exclusively in Latin, the language of the clergy and the highly educated. But Luther wanted the Bible translated and read as widely as possible: “We must inquire about this of the mother in the home, the children on the street, the common man in the marketplace,” he explained in “On Translation: An Open Letter” (1530). “We must be guided by their language, the way they speak, and do our translating accordingly.” 

Luther always elevated the individual believer, armed with the Bible, above any earthly authority. This was the heart of his defiance at the Diet of Worms: “My conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and I will not recant anything, for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe. Here I stand.” Neither prince nor pope could invade the sanctuary of his conscience. This, he proclaimed, is the “inestimable power and liberty” belonging to every Christian.

It would be hard to imagine a more radical break with centuries of church teaching and tradition. Luther’s intense study of the Bible—part of his anguished quest to be reconciled to God—made these great innovations possible. Convinced that the teachings of Christ had become twisted into an “unbearable bondage of human works and laws,” he preached a gospel of freedom. Salvation, he taught, was a gift from God available to everyone through faith in Jesus and his sacrificial death.

In 1520, some three years after publishing his theses, Luther released “On the Freedom of a Christian,” his manifesto on the privileges and obligations of every believer. It became a publishing phenomenon. “A Christian has no need of any work or law in order to be saved,” he insisted, “since through faith he is free from every law and does everything out of pure liberty and freely.” Christian liberty of this kind provided no excuse for libertinism. Just the opposite: “I will therefore give myself as a Christ to my neighbor, just as Christ offered himself to me.”

Luther offered more than a theory of individual empowerment. He delivered a spiritual bill of rights. Generations of reformers—from John Locke to Martin Luther King Jr.—would praise his achievement. Half a millennium later, his message of freedom has not lost its power.

Babylon Bee: Luther Echo

I love the fact that the 500th anniversary of the Reformation (which we talked about here, for starters), has brought Martin Luther to prominence, along with his acerbic wit. Not everything the Babylon Bee puts out is funny, but when they nail it, they nail it.

New Martin Luther-Shaped Amazon Echo Will Rudely Answer All Your Theology Questions

Click through for the full article.

Osteen vs. Luther

Adam4d is a Christian humor website that is occasionally quite funny, even if we aren't always on the exact same page theologically. But the site hit a home run with this, a series of actual Joel Osteen tweets, followed by actual Martin Luther qoutes.

In addition to having a grasp on the theology of grace, Luther also had quite the way with words.

Podcast #011 - Religious Fandom & Spiritual Head Canon

"Religious Fandom & Spiritual Head Canon"


On this super-sized episode, Emily & Professor Alan talk about some of the similarities between religion and pop culture fandom.

Then they spend most of the episode talking about their own individual faith journeys, doubts, beliefs, questions, and oddball notions. 

Click on the player below to listen to the episode:





You may also subscribe to the podcast through iTunes or the RSS Feed.

Link: The music of The Choir
Link: The music of Iona
Link: The music of Anderson Cale

We would love to hear from you about this issue, the podcast episode, or the podcast in general. Send e-mail feedback to dorknesstolight@gmail.com 

You can follow Alan on twitter @ProfessorAlan or the podcast @DorknessToLight

Book Review of "Wounds That Heal"

Wounds That Heal, by Stephen Seamands. Paperback.

Stephen Seamands, a professor of Christian doctrine at Asbury College, has produced a very readable and insightful study of the healing work of the Cross. His point is that in a world of wounded people, we have hope. Through the ministry of Jesus, God enters our painful situations to bring healing and redemption.

The book does a good job balancing biblical analysis and pastoral care. The book is filled with real-life stories of people finding healing and redemption amidst their painful experiences. Seamands also includes a range of quotes and examples from people from a range of Christian experiences.

The book is valuable for personal or group use. Each of the 10 chapters ends with a half-dozen or so questions for reflection. Along with the wealth of personal stories included in the text, these questions make sure that the book is as practical as it is theological.

The book starts with a discussion of hurt, rejection and shame. He then moves to a discussion of freedom, liberation, and healing. The overarching theme is that at the Cross, Jesus felt all of the emotions of humanity, including shame, abandonment, and rejection. And through His work, all people have the opportunity to receive the benefits of His love and acceptance.

Source: My wife purchased this book, most likely from the bookstore at this church. 

This review originally appeared at Alan's Eyes & Ears.